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SALT LAKE CITY — This Unprecedented heat waves can make it difficult Utah roads. Last UDOT closed several lanes of traffic along I-15 in the evening commute because the concrete pavement had buckled from the heat.
UDOT crews are unable to predict the exact moment or location of buckling, but conditions are set.
The The hottest hour of the day is afternoon The Concrete is growing on roads at this time. When When this happens, roads can become unstable.
“It happened at exactly the wrong time, right before the evening commute,” UDOT Spokesman John Gleason This is referring to the road buckling last Thursday afternoon.
That’s I-15 northbound, when the interstate buckled Centerville. The UDOT had to close all northbound lanes except one due to damage and repairs. This caused congestion for many miles and hours.
TypicallyUDOT believes that this type of heat-related damage is possible. JulyNot September.
“This year, it’s a little bit different where we have had 30-plus days of triple-digit weather,” Gleason said. “It’s something we have to watch out for.”
The Contraction joints connect concrete interstate panels. The Concrete expands and contracts, but it never returns to its original volume. Over Concrete is not able to move backwards and forwards because of the time that rocks and grit accumulate. When Concrete panels are rigid and cannot be moved. When heated concrete expands, it buckles.
“As soon as we hear about an issue, we shut it down because the panels are expanding, and if they have no place to expand then they will start to crumble,” Gleason said. “That’s not something you want to be driving through.”
Hitting Crushing concrete at highway speeds can cause accidents and damage to cars.
It’s Not just triple-digit heat, but also the buckled roads.
“When you have temperatures that are consistently in the triple digits through the day, and then it doesn’t really cool down much at night, you can have those issues,” Gleason said.
FortunatelyThere have not been any reports of cracking pavement in the last few days. If If you notice crumbled or buckled pavement causing traffic problems, dial 911 immediately.
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